The issue of same sex marriage has made it onto the ballot in several states. In Maine, they have been going back and forth on the matter for some time. Their legislature approved same-sex marriage in 2009 only to have voters immediately vote to ban it that same year. Now, voters are again being asked to consider this issue (Question 1) by potentially overturning the ban they previously instated. Maryland’s ballot initiative is supportive of same-sex marriage. For quite some time, polls showed the citizens of Maryland were more supportive of the initiative (Question 6) than not, but recent polling has shown this support waning. At this point, the results could go either way. This is exactly the same situation in Minnesota where polls also show their ballot initiative (Amendment 1) banning same-sex marriage is polling in a dead heat. The state where same sex marriage looks most promising is Washington, where polling shows their pro-equality initiative (Referendum 74) polling favorably.

Michigan will be important on election night for two of its key initiatives. Its draconian emergency manager lawsare going to get a public review through their ballot initiative (Proposal 1) and it looks like voters are finally going to put an end to these monstrosities. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like voters are going to be similarly enlightened about union rights, because polls are showing that an initiative (Proposal 2) that would put collective bargaining rights into the Michigan state constitution has more opposition than support.

In California, four particular ballot measures are particularly important. In the criminal justice arena, voters are being asked to decide whether to repeal the death penalty (Proposition 34) and revise the three-strikes law (Proposition 36). Despite being outspent by millions of dollars, supporters of the death penalty are apparently going to get to keep it. The three-strikes law would change so that it would be applied only to serious, violent offenses instead of sweeping up all of the non-violent offenders it often snags now. This is a second attempt to revise the law after voters failed to do so in 2004, and this time it is looking like voters just might do it. A flood of money from corporate food producers has poured into preventing California’s Proposition 37 to label genetically modified food and it appears that they have managed to buy their desired outcome, as it seems ready to fail.

California’s fourth ballot measure worth following is the deceptively writtenProposition 32 that appears to “get the money out of politics” but actually just aims to target unions by ending their access to dues gathering methods like payroll deductions. This proposition purports to reign in corporate campaign spending as well, but it actually leaves major loopholes for corporations that allow them to spend freely anyway. But other state ballot initiatives really are trying to get the money out of politics. After Montana lost their battle to fight Citizen’s United this year when they took their anti-corruption, anti-corporate political donations law to the Supreme Court, they placed their Initiative I-166 onto the ballot that would ban corporate personhood at the state level. Colorado’s Amendment 65 is similar in nature, with provisions to limit corporate contributions to political campaigns.

Of course, there are many other vital ballot measures, such as Florida’s Amendment 8 which is ostensibly a religious freedom law, but is actually just a power grab by conservatives to snatch public dollars for private, religious schools, or Minnesota’s Amendment 2, where instead of having legislators suppress voters by forcing them to produce photo IDs, polls show that the citizens of Minnesota are poised to do it to their fellow citizens.

The media is often hyper-focused on the Presidency and Senate and House races come election night. It can be difficult to locate information about the results of ballot initiative votes. However, given the gravity of many of these issues, it would be well worth it to scour the internet for the outcomes of the ballot measures above.